2019-06-26
The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier issued Regulation No 19-06 to impose strict restrictions on the marketing, distribution, and sale of contracts for differences to retail clients. The regulation mandates that providers must enforce initial margin, margin close-out, and negative balance protections while prohibiting inducements and requiring specific risk warnings. These measures, which include defined margin percentages and standardized loss disclosures, entered into force on 1 August 2019.
In case of discrepancies between the French and the English text, the French text shall prevail. CSSF Regulation No 19-06 of 26 June 2019 restricting the marketing, distribution or sale of contracts for differences to retail clients Having regard to Article 108a of the Constitution; Having regard to the Law of 23 December 1998 establishing a financial sector supervisory commission ("Commission de surveillance du secteur financier"), and in particular Article 9(2) thereof; Having regard to the Law of 5 April 1993 on the financial sector (LFS), and in particular point (13) of Article 53(1) thereof, pursuant to which the CSSF, in its capacity as designated authority, may suspend the marketing or sale of financial instruments; Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Regulation EU No 648/2012, and Article 42 thereof, pursuant to which the CSSF, in its capacity as competent authority, may suspend the marketing, distribution or sale of financial instruments; Having regard to the European Securities and Markets Authority Decision (EU) 2018/796 of 22 May 2018 to temporarily restrict contracts for differences in the Union in accordance with Article 40 of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council; Having regard to the opinion of the Consultative Committee for Prudential Regulation; The Executive Board of the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, Decides: Article 1 Definitions For the purposes of this decision: (a) ‘contract for differences’ or ‘CFD’ means a derivative other than an option, future, swap or forward rate agreement, the purpose of which is to give the holder a long or short exposure to fluctuations in the price, level or value of an underlying, irrespective of whether it is traded on a trading venue, and that must be settled in cash or may be settled in cash at the option of one of the parties other than by reason of default or other termination event; (b) ‘excluded non-monetary benefit’ means any non-monetary benefit other than, in so far as they relate to CFDs, information and research tools; (c) ‘initial margin’ means any payment for the purpose of entering into a CFD, excluding commission, transaction fees and any other related costs; (d) ‘initial margin protection’ means the initial margin determined by Annex I; (e) ‘margin close-out protection’ means the closure of one or more of a retail client's open CFDs on terms most favourable to the client in accordance with Articles 24 and 27 of Directive
2 2014/65/EU1 when the sum of funds in the CFD trading account and the unrealised net profits of all open CFDs connected to that account falls to less than half of the total initial margin protection for all those open CFDs; (f) ‘negative balance protection’ means the limit of a retail client's aggregate liability for all CFDs connected to a CFD trading account with a CFD provider to the funds in that CFD trading account. Article 2 Restriction on CFDs in respect of retail clients The marketing, distribution or sale to retail clients of CFDs is restricted to circumstances where at least all of the following conditions are met: (a) the CFD provider requires the retail client to pay the initial margin protection; (b) the CFD provider provides the retail client with the margin close-out protection; (c) the CFD provider provides the retail client with the negative balance protection; (d) the CFD provider does not directly or indirectly provide the retail client with a payment, monetary or excluded non-monetary benefit in relation to the marketing, distribution or sale of a CFD, other than the realised profits on any CFD provided; and (e) the CFD provider does not send directly or indirectly a communication to or publish information accessible by a retail client relating to the marketing, distribution or sale of a CFD unless it includes the appropriate risk warning specified by and complying with the conditions in Annex II. Article 3 Prohibition of participating in circumvention activities It shall be prohibited to participate, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent the requirements in Article 2, including by acting as a substitute for the CFD provider. Article 4 Entry into force This regulation shall enter into force on 1 August 2019. 1 Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 2011/61/EU.
3 Article 5 Publication This regulation shall be published in the Journal officiel du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg and on the website of the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. Luxembourg, 26 June 2019 COMMISSION DE SURVEILLANCE DU SECTEUR FINANCIER Claude WAMPACH Marco ZWICK Jean-Pierre FABER Director Françoise KAUTHEN Claude MARX Director Director General
ANNEX II RISK WARNINGS SECTION A Risk warning conditions
5 (b) any costs relating to the CFDs connected to the CFD trading account shall be included in the calculation, including all charges, fees and commissions; (c) the following items shall be excluded from the calculation: (i) any CFD trading account that did not have an open CFD connected to it within the calculation period; (ii)any profits or losses from products other than CFDs connected to the CFD trading account; (iii) any deposits or withdrawals of funds from the CFD trading account. 5. By way of derogation from paragraphs 2 to 4, if in the last 12-month calculation period a CFD provider has not provided an open CFD connected to a retail client CFD trading account, that CFD provider shall use the standard risk warning specified in Sections D and E, as appropriate. SECTION B Durable medium and webpage provider-specific risk warning CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. [insert percentage per provider] % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. SECTION C Abbreviated provider-specific risk warning [insert percentage per provider] % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. SECTION D Durable medium and webpage standard risk warning CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. SECTION E Abbreviated standard risk warning Between 74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.